The Star of Pluto

Prologue

Two major scientific breakthroughs dominated the decade of the 2080s. The first was the successful testing of an ion drive. Up until this time, nuclear fission powered all rockets. The U.S.A. and Russia continually outdid each other by building bigger and bigger nuclear engines which allowed spacecraft to travel faster and faster.

But the invention of a stable ion drive by scientists in the U.S. was a game changer. Suddenly the speed of rockets increased dramatically and no longer would they need to worry about the environmentally sensitive task of dumping nuclear waste into space.

The second breakthrough was actually a discovery. Ever since the early 2000s scientists had speculated about a ninth planet revolving around the sun. The signs were always there. The slight perturbations of Pluto and Neptune, plus the unusual orbital paths of several asteroids in the Kuiper belt had led astronomers to suggest that these anomalies were due to a mysterious planet somewhere beyond the Kuiper Belt.

With some simple physics, they even estimated its mass, possible location, and physical size. However, it took the next eighty years of careful observation, calculation, and sheer patience to finally discover it. They named the planet Terminus after the Roman god of boundaries.

The planet was nowhere near as big as they had estimated, and its location was surprisingly closer than anticipated. Hence the long time taken to find it. But the spectral analysis of its surface was what sparked interest in all nations on Earth.

The 2080s was a decade of deprivation. Ever since the twenty-first century started, environmentalists, futurists, and especially scientists had sent dire warnings to the population about various natural resources running out at some stage.

While the use of fossil fuels had dwindled to almost nothing, several third world countries still depended on them. Those economies collapsed overnight when the last of the oil fields dried up. The rest of the world was not immune when supplies of copper, tin, and exotic elements such as palladium, argon, and especially lithium quickly disappeared. These essential elements were the main ingredients in just about every electronic device and nearly every metal alloy used up until that time. All of these had either run out or had become so depleted as to severely affect life on Earth. The 2080s was when it all came to a head.

When scientists reported vast amounts of these minerals and elements existed on the newly discovered Terminus, the race was on to build spacecraft capable of landing on the planet and returning with these valuable resources.

Of course, leading this charge was NASA in the U.S.A. The State Space Corporation RosCosmos in Russia was close behind, though. Other countries such as India and China were somewhat further behind with the technology, but they each devoted vast funds to building a spacecraft to reach there. Even some independent companies set about building spacecraft to mine these valuable resources.

Way back in the 1980s, all space-faring nations had signed treaties agreeing that no one nation could claim ownership of any planetary body in the solar system once they land on it. However, the treaties did not cover mining rights. It was like the old gold rush days where the first to reach there could stake their claim and mine as much as they wanted.

Some legal pundits tried in vain to make national leaders cooperate but in these days of global shortages of just about everything, they fought a losing battle.

One treaty that every space-faring nation had signed was to ban the use of chemical fuels for air travel. Electric motors now powered every plane and rocket launched from the ground. This led to the revival of the Space Shuttle to ferry people into space. With thousands of space stations now orbiting Earth, flying to any one of them was as common as air travel. The spaceships destined for other parts of the solar system were now designed, built, and launched from these space stations. The largest of these of course, were owned by the U.S. and Russia. But most nations had some presence in orbit around the Earth. Even some commercial conglomerates had built space stations.

When NASA built the first prototype of its ion engine, its citizens gained a new hope that they would be the ones who would benefit from the resources on Terminus. However, shortly after Russia tested a new larger nuclear engine which promised to match the ion drive.

The space race was back on. Not since the heady days of the 1960s was the competition to outdo each other in space so fierce. The stakes were high. The winner would reap the rewards of an almost unlimited supply of resources, not to mention bragging rights for their country.

Back in the 1950s, Russia had claimed the first victories with the launch of the first ever satellite, as well as the first man and first woman in space. The U.S.A. reclaimed those rights by the end of the 1960s when they became the first to land a man on the moon. Russia tried to retaliate by becoming the first nation to land a craft on Venus. The race continued throughout the 2000s with the U.S. establishing the first manned colony on the moon and despite the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia responded by setting up a base on Mars. As for Terminus, Russia had a lot of incentive be the first ones there.

Several independent companies were also involved in these endeavours. Companies such as SpaceX, which started in the early 2000s, and the recently formed GlobalSol quickly reconfigured their space stations to build something to become the first on Terminus. Their goal was simple. Claim the mining rights and become a global monopoly.

SpaceX sunk all their efforts into a rocket powered by nuclear fission while GlobalSol resurrected the old technology of solar sailing. This worked by simply having large sails attached to the spacecraft to catch the solar wind. While the push provided by photons of light from the sun was small, it was continuous and thus a craft could reach extremely high speeds by this technique with no expenditure of fuel. However, they had abandoned this technology back in the 2030s when they realised that it would take far too long to attain a reasonable speed. These days, with the advent of new materials and technologies to boost the force of the solar wind, GlobalSol believed it could develop a craft capable of travelling faster than anything anyone else could build.

NASA eventually won the race to build a spacecraft capable of landing on and returning from Terminus with a payload. Russia had experienced several test failures with its new nuclear engines but claimed to have a spaceship ready for launch only a week after NASA announced its ship ready for launch. The rest apparently were years behind, so little publicity was given to them.

The astronauts flying on these craft were another matter. By sheer luck or simply good timing, NASA had just sent a manned mission to Mercury to establish a base on its surface in the twilight zone (the region between day and night on the surface). NASA had also trained a backup crew as it always did. It was this crew who suddenly found themselves the selected ones for the mission to Terminus.

Russia, on the other hand, had been training a crew for a mission to Charon, a moon of Pluto. They quickly reassigned that crew and the spaceship to the Terminus mission. They were much better prepared than their NASA counterparts, having trained for a mission that was remarkably similar. The NASA crew had mere weeks to readjust their mission to ready themselves.

NASA had dubbed their mission the ‘Terminus Orbital Survey And Reconnaissance’ or TOSAR which became the name of their craft. NASA had a long tradition of naming its missions with acronyms. Russia had called theirs the Sputnik 4 Mission after their first manufactured objects launched into space. They wanted to remind the U.S. of their original win in the space race back in the 1950s when they launched three Sputnik satellites. The second one even carried a dog into space!

After much fanfare and anticipation, the TOSAR was ready to depart Earth a full week ahead of Sputnik 4 as anticipated. It would take around two months to reach Terminus such was the power of its new ion engines. Sputnik 4 would prove to be somewhat slower, taking several days more to reach the planet.

Chapter 1

T his is Commander James Green reporting in for a final check. Mission specialist Maisey Wilcox and payload specialist Harlon D Mason are now secure, and we are awaiting the release orders.

Commander James Green, with his blond hair, blue eyes, and milky skin, looked the quintessential American hero. At 32 years of age, he was the most experienced of the trio as he had been on several missions to the moon and even a couple of deep space exploratory missions to the outer planets.

Maisey Wilcox was a short woman with black curly hair. At 30 years of age, she was the youngest of the three. As far as the public were concerned, she was about to become the first gay American woman of colour with parents who were also astronauts to fly beyond the orbit of the moon. The U.S. were always highlighting firsts like that. Maisey really had no interest in this historic fact. She only focussed on making sure the ship reached Terminus.

Harlon D Wilcox, a strapping six-foot man with a shaved head and a goatee moustache. At 35 years of age, he was the oldest of the three, but this would be his first mission. A native of New York, he was also of African American origin. He was a career astronaut having come up through the ranks of pilot training. With engineering degrees, he was the obvious choice for the payload specialist. He would be the one coordinating the mining operation once they reach Terminus.

Commander, this is Capcom in Houston. We are a go for launch. On behalf of everyone down here we wish you good luck and God’s speed.

The interminable wait for the next five minutes was probably the hardest part of the launch. Maisey focussed on the countdown clock while Harlon looked around at every conceivable object within eyesight. James checked each instrument panel for its expected response for the umpteenth time.

Finally, ...

T minus 10, 9, 8, 7, fire attitude jets, 4,3,2,1, ...

When the docking clamps released the TOSAR, it slowly drifted away from the Space Station Factory. The combination of the attitude jets on the ship and the speed of the Space Station Factory as it moved around the Earth in geosynchronous orbit, flung the TOSAR out into space.

Well, that was underwhelming, Maisey said.

How so? James replied.

"When I was a little girl, my grandfather used to tell me stories of how spacecraft, in his day launched. There would be so much smoke that the whole launch pad would disappear from view. The noise would be so loud that people standing miles away needed to wear earplugs. The ground would shake as violently as an earthquake. The rocket would slowly build up speed vibrating so much that the poor astronauts inside felt like their joints would shake apart. The spectators saw an amazing spectacle of a rocket flying so high and fast that they nearly strained their necks while watching it through their binoculars.

And what did we get? No noise, no thrust, not even a wiggle, but a disengagement that looked like someone breaking a Christmas cracker. The people back on Earth are probably changing channels by now."

Don’t worry Maisey. When we return with our payload, they’ll be so thankful. You’ll be a national hero! Harlon replied.

Distance 2 miles. James, you are a go for spin.

Spin cycle started, Capcom, James replied.

I feel like a pair of shorts in a washing machine, Harlon added.

The TOSAR was a long ship with a corridor running down the centre. The front section housed the flight deck with three seats and a full width viewport with a 120-degree view ahead. The centre section housed their kitchen and living quarters, while the rear section contained a large hold for the resources as well as the mining equipment. The airlock was at the very end of the corridor. Attached to the back half of the ship were four large ion drive engines, two on each side. The whole ship had the typical hull construction of the day. This comprised three layers. The middle layer was essentially a separate cylinder which began to rotate as James engaged the spin cycle. This generated gravity by centrifugal force which transferred to the interior layer of the ship. Slowly but surely, the three astronauts began to feel an increasing force on their bodies. For the last three hours, they had floated in space, completely weightless.

Now, each one felt a pain in their arms and legs. It was like someone had just sat on them. For the first time in three hours, they needed to use their neck muscles to keep their heads up.

All through this, the three simply sat there and grimaced. It took another five minutes before the pain subsided as they became used to gravity again. Actually, it was their muscles getting used to working against an external force. When the spin of the front hull had reached its maximum rate, the gravity inside the ship had reached 1g, the normal gravity one feels on Earth.

None of the three dared release their straps. It was a natural reaction not to fully trust the newly generated gravity just yet. However, Harlon began to raise and lower his arms, more to exercise them than to convince himself that he was now operating at Earth gravity.

It was only the front two sections and the corridor that experienced this gravity. The cargo hold did not require any gravity as it was only for the resources, they would mine on the surface of Terminus. Having gravity in there seemed pointless and it would add extra mass to bring back and thus waste fuel.

NASA had long-term plans. The mission was to mine enough minerals to fill the cargo hold and then leave the mining equipment on the surface for the next mission. This will also act as a mining claim for Terminus. As the mining equipment was largely automatic, it did not require any extensive effort to operate it. Harlon had been trained to work the machinery on his own. James was also trained as a backup. However, should any of the equipment break down, there was no one trained to fix it. They would need to rely on ground-based instructions to remedy any faults. Given their time frame, this was a risk that NASA was willing to take just to ensure they launched before the Russians and indeed anyone else.

So far, their operation had run to schedule. The Russians were always at least a week behind. Other countries such as India and China were still months away and as for the independent companies trying to build a suitable craft, only GlobalSol looked like building anything close to the TOSAR within the next six months. NASA would be the first on this new planet!

James tentatively tried the new gravity when he released his straps and stood up. It was like watching an old man trying to lift himself out of a deep couch, but eventually, he stood in triumph. It would be another twenty minutes before he was needed for anything, and he thought he would check out the facilities in the back.

Like a procession, the other two also stood up. Maisey stretched her arms and even managed to touch her toes to test that all her muscles were operating normally. Harlon did one better by doing a few hack squats.

Unlike spaceships of the past where astronauts remained strapped into their seats inside a tiny capsule that left no room for privacy, the TOSAR was pure luxury. It had three individual rooms for sleeping, a communal kitchen area, various storage closets, a bathroom, and a normal toilet. Years of astronauts living in space stations circling Earth had led to the development of these amenities for space travel. The newly invented ion drive allowed spaceship builders to make the ships large enough to accommodate extra living spaces.

When James returned to his seat, the other two sat down again. After yet another check of the instrument panel, James contacted Houston.

Houston, this is the TOSAR. Ready for firing.

TOSAR, this is Houston. You have a go for firing.

The TOSAR had now reached a safe distance from the Space Station Factory. James flicked four switches and instinctively leant back in his seat. In the next moment, all three felt the thrust of the ion engines firing up. The force was only temporary as once the spaceship overcame its inertia, the force subsided. But the TOSAR was now moving away from Earth at a faster speed.

The historic occasion of being the first to travel at such a high velocity was quite lost on the three as each one concentrated on their instrument panels to ensure that the craft was functioning correctly.

All right, folks. Only three hours to the moon!

You mean we are on a three-hour tour? I sure hope we don’t get shipwrecked on an island! Harlon replied.

Chapter 2

M r Allard, just how does this solar sailing work? It needs to outperform the NASA ion drive if you want to make it to Terminus before them, the reporter asked.

Raiden Allard, head of GlobalSol and one of America’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, adjusted his glasses and brushed back his long brown hair. He replied.

Firstly, solar sailing simply makes use of the Sun’s solar winds. Large reflectors pick up the energy from light particles emanating from the sun. As they bounce off these large reflectors, they impart a small force on the reflector. By having expansive reflective surfaces, the total force is enough to move the spacecraft forwards.

But that technology has been around for nearly a century without anyone ever building a spacecraft with enough thrust, the reporter continued.

"True, but since then, we have invented an enhancer that magnifies the force created, thus making it a feasible solution. Don’t forget, the thrust generated by these impacts is continuous. The speed of the craft would continue to increase. We estimate that by the time our spaceship reaches the orbit of Pluto, we should be travelling at around half the speed of